The impact of ferrochrome smelter on the contamination of its environment with toxic hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI), was assessed by analyzing smelter dusts, soil, grass and tree barks. For the separation of Cr(VI) from Cr(III),solid samples were treated with 0.1 M Na2CO3 and filtered through hydrophilic PDVF 0.45 mu m filter prior to the determination of Cr(VI) by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ET-AAS). Ferrochrome smelter dust was found to contain significant levels of Cr(VI),viz. 43.5 mu g g(-1) (cyclone dust), 2710 mu g g(-1) (fine dust), and 7800 mu g g(-1) (slimes dust) which exceeded the maximum acceptable risk concentration (20 mu g g(-1)). The concentration of Cr(VI)in environmental samples of grass (3.4 +/- 0.2), soil (7.7 +/- 0.2), and tree bark(11.8 +/- 1.2) collected in the vicinity of the chrome smelter were higher as compared with the same kind of samples collected from uncontaminated area. The results of the investigation show that ferrochrome smelter is a source of environmental pollution with contamination factors of Cr(VI) ranging between 10 and 50. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.